There’s Always Someone Lower

Bessie Head was born in 1937 in South-Africa, a daughter of a wealthy white man and his black servant. She exiled to Botswana in the 60’s, and died in 1986, aged only 48. Maru is the only one of her 12 published works that’s easily available for Finnish readers. And it’s a beautiful piece of fiction.

In the center of the book we find Margaret Cadmore, and orphaned daughter of the despised and oppressed Masarwa tribe, which is one group belonging to people that have sometimes been collectively called